Later, Hermione would remember that it was a Friday.

She'd spent the week moving into her new flat, and had finally finished redecorating- the way she wanted it, not the way her parents had envisioned her living. She still shuddered at the thought of that horrid green shag pile carpet. It must have been installed during the seventies, and never re-laid. And the kitchen of course was simply unacceptable. Thankfully a few charms, a bit of transfiguration, and the place was now liveable.

Thankfully, her visitors had been few so far, so virtually no one knew how the place had looked before. Her parents of course would be shocked at the transformation the next time they came over, but they were enduring all sorts of shocks lately, what with her being able to perform magic at home and discovering that wizards too had wars. They particularly objected to the fact that she had a role to play in this one.

Harry, of course, had seen it in various stages while he'd helped her with the more physical side of redecorating. Eventually he'd gotten tired of moving furniture and had left, muttering something about 'women' and 'mercurial minds'. That had been Wednesday. On Thursday she'd done the grocery shopping. And Snape had dropped by.

Hermione tried her best not to think about that little disaster.

Now it was Friday. Her first day filled with absolutely nothing to do. By 8.30 Hermione was bored out of her skull. By 8.55, she was giving serious consideration to going against her parent's wishes and organising a 'wild party'. After all, one couldn't move out of home without having a party to celebrate, could one? Nothing extravagant, just a few friends. Invites to all her Gryff', Huff' and 'Claw classmates had been written and she was considering the Slyth's when the mail arrived.

The Owl looked at her oddly before flying away. Probably because it had never seen anyone dance with glee at the sight of it. Hermione felt justified, however, as not only was it her first official letter in her new flat, but there was two of them! Of course one of them was just her subscription to The Daily Prophet, but still!

The actual letter reminded her of the start of year Hogwart's letter, right down to the green ink used on the front. She turned it over to find the familiar red wax seal with the bold 'H' backed by the House crests. 'God,' she thought, 'This better not be Snape again. I swear if he's gone stalker on me he won't know what hit him!' She hesitated a moment then broke the seal and withdrew the stiff parchment within.

Miss Granger,

I hope this missive finds you in good health.

It is my regret to tell you of the death yesterday of Professor Snape. As he has no family, it falls to me seek out those who might have been close to him and would wish to farewell him. As both a fellow member of the Order, and a colleague of sorts (I think even Severus would have acknowledged you as such after your assistance in the Potions Lab this past year) I would hope you consider yourself such a person.

The funeral will be held this Sunday at 1pm at Hog's Grove.

Yours

Albus Dumbledore.

Hermione was numb, her mind barely able to function. 'Dead? Snape is dead? How? Yesterday? Does that mean that . . . I was the last person to see him?'

In an effort to escape that line of thought, she tore her eyes away from the letter and looked anywhere else but. Eventually they fell on the as yet unread newspaper that was threatening to escape from its binding. A moment later it did so, revealing the lead head line in bold black letters half an inch high: Death at Hogwart's!

Before she could look away, two words leaped out and tackled her fragile mind: apparent suicide.